The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-04-09
A Lively Blizzard.

at was the great original blizzard
from the northwest, an tell YOU it
heat 'em all. The wind blew the
water into waves and the cold froze
'em right thar. Every pond, creek
and river was found next day all
covered with frozen waves as pretty
IN if they'd been carved ont that way.
The day had been very warm. The
ground was covered with snow, slush
and mud. About noon the blizzard
came. and in five minutes all the
slush and mud was frozen hard
enOught to sustain n wagon. All the
little gulies in the sides of hills we're
full of water, so great was the thaw.
In few minutes the blizzard fruzp
those running streams as solid n
rocks. Men were out Mt work thai
day with their coats nff, an mprk,p
one poor fellow was frozen stiff afDre
he could get to the house. perhaps
half nile away. Cattle, hugs and
fowls were frozen in their TRICKS, un.
able to get out of the frozen mud and
sluSh. A light rain was falling when
the blizzard struck ia, and ii was
suddenly converted into little bullets.
"A misty sort of n rain was failiu'
an my coat WAS wet. JuStas pulled
ii from my back the blast of wind
took hold of til was siandin' on
top of a Wagnn-an' swept it out %
my hands. What dye suppose hap
pened then? Why, sir. before that
c0at struck The ground it froze stiff
an went saiin' over the ground like
n cartWhpel, first strikin' on the col.
lar an then on the tails. j never
saw that coat again. but | heard of
one like 1t bpin' picked up down in
Southern Indiana.
IL remember hearing atOnt man
from Pike county who was going
home from court. He WAS horseback.
Illinois river, and, the ferryman he-
+ ing n little slow and his horse good
swimmer. he decided to GO right
across without waiting. His horse
had gone only about twenty feet
when the blizzard struck 'eni.
Twenty feet more, and there was so
much ice i'm the river that he decided
to turn back. IL. had all he could
do to get back on the bank afbre he
ice got so thick he couldn't hrta it
with his feet. In two hours the ice
on the river formed nine inches tn elk
"A neighbor ~ mine had n queer
experience. He was hutcherin' hogs
that day, and at noon went into din
ner. leaving good fire under the nig
kettle and the water b iling under il.
When he went out after dinner The
fire was still burning brightly. but
there was two inches Of ice on top Uf
the water in the kettle. They Gfnke
a hole through with a hatchpt am
my neighb0r re 'ched his hand down
in there an got it scade in the
water near the bottom of the kettle.
ION the day % the sudden fiet u
Andy was driving three hundred or
four hundred hogs To St. Louis. an
had got down near Carliuvilln, Ma
c0upin county, when the hlizztrti lit
onto 'em. The men had to run off
an leave their hogs an their wagons,
an two ~ the horses were frozen to
death in their tracks. The men man.
aged to git into CarlinviIlp, several
of 'em badly frozen. The people
there took good care of 'em. an next
day a party started out to look up
the hogs.
We'll, sir, the sight that met their
eyes was queer one. They found
them hogs all in 4 pie in a regular
pyramid, and that pyramid was
'hout forty feet high. You don't be-
lieve it? Well. 'lwar rs true a. gns.
pei. Andy told me so himself. and
he was IA truthful man. You see, the
hogs huddlrd together 10 keep warm.
Those on the outside were cold aud
kept trying to get further in. while
those on the inside was sm0therin'
an fightin' for fresh air and not
KNOWN how to get it. The result of
all this was that the hogs in the mid
die was forced up Ivy the pressure
from the outside an below, and as
more hogs got their noses in under
the outer edge of the pyramid an
kept rOntin' to'rd the center the pork
erS in the middle kept risin' an risin'
till the t0pm0st one was u full forty
feet from the ground. Every hog in
that drove Was in that ar pyramid.
an every tarnal one of I'm WAS
frozen stiffer'n poker Chicago